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Osama bin Laden wrote what is referred to as a fatwa in August 1996[1], and was one of several signatories of another and shorter fatwa in February 1998[2]. Both documents appeared initially in the Arabic-language London newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi[1][2]. At the time, bin Laden was not a wanted man in any country except his native Saudi Arabia, and was not yet known as the leader of the international terrorist organisation al-Qaeda. Therefore these fatwas, or fatawa, received relatively little attention until after the August 1998 United States embassy bombings, for which bin Laden is indicted[3]. The indictment mentions the first fatwa, and claims that Khalid al-Fawwaz, of bin Laden's Advice and Reformation Committee in London, participated in its communication to the press.

Bin Laden's 1996 fatwa is entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places". This document is sometimes called the Ladenese epistle, a term derived from bin Laden's surname. It is a long piece, and complains of American activities in numerous countries. It was faxed to supporters across the world.[4]

The 1998 fatwa[2][5] reached al-Quds al-Arabi by fax, and was signed by five people, four of whom represented (or were said by the newspaper to represent) specific Islamist groups:

Ahmed Refai Taha, alias Abu Yasser, of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (in Egypt). This endorsement was retracted because of the enormous unpopularity of terrorism in Egypt following the Luxor massacre of tourists and Egyptians by al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya. Taha , explained his signature to fellow members of the Islamic Group saying he had only been asked over the telephone to join in a statement of support for the Iraqi people. [6]

Fazul Rahman, "emir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh", probably Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami/Bangladesh or HUJI-B; HUJI itself is in Pakistan.

The signatories as a group were identified as the "World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders". This fatwa complains of American military presence in the Arabian Peninsula, and American support for Israel. It purports to provide religious authorization for indiscriminate killing of Americans and Jews everywhere. It appeared in February 1998 and the embassy bombings followed in August.

Contents

Sourced

1996
Fatwa

It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression,
iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and
their collaborators; to the extent that the Muslims blood became
the cheapest and their wealth as loot in the hands of the enemies.
Their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq. The horrifying pictures of the
massacre of Qana, in Lebanon are still fresh in our memory.
Massacres in Tajikistan, Burma, Kashmir, Assam, Philippines, Pattani, Ogaden, Somalia, Eritrea, Chechnya, and in Bosnia-Herzegovina took place,
massacres that send shivers in the body and shake the conscience.
All of this and the world watch and hear, and not only didn't
respond to these atrocities, but also with a clear conspiracy
between the USA and its' allies and under the cover of the
iniquitous United Nations, the dispossessed
people were even prevented from obtaining arms to defend
themselves. The people of Islam
awakened and realized that they are the main target for the
aggression of the Zionist-Crusaders alliance. All false claims and
propaganda about
"Human Rights" were hammered down and exposed by the massacres that
took place against the Muslims in every part of the world.

Mentioning various massacres and atrocities, including the Srebrenica massacre, to justify
his violent retaliations.

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies — civilians and
military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in
any country in which it is possible to do it...

First, for over seven years the United States has
been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian
Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers,
humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its
bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the
neighboring Muslim peoples.
If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the
occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged
it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression
against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post,
even though all its rulers are against their territories being used
to that end, but they are helpless.Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on
the Iraqi people by the
crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those
killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the
Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres,
as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed
after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.
So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to
humiliate their Muslim neighbors.Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars
are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert
attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims
there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq,
the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to
fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, and Sudan into paper
statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee
Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade
occupation of the Peninsula.

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies — civilians
and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it
in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to
liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in
order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam,
defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.